THE 400 YEARS BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

by Ray C. Stedman

At the close of the book of Malachi in the Old Testament, the
nation of Israel is back again in the land of Palestine after
the Babylonian captivity, but they are under the domination of
the great world power of that day, Persia and the Medio-Persian
empire. In Jerusalem, the temple had been restored, although it
was a much smaller building than the one that Solomon had built
and decorated in such marvelous glory.

Within the temple the line of Aaronic priests was still worshiping
and carrying on the sacred rites as they had been ordered to do
by the law of Moses. There was a direct line of descendancy in
the priesthood that could be traced back to Aaron.

But the royal line of David had fallen on evil days. The people
knew who the rightful successor to David was, and in the book
of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, his name is given to us. It
was Zerubbabel, the royal prince, yet there was no king on the
throne of Israel, they were a puppet nation, under the domination
of Persia. Nevertheless, although they were beset with weakness
and formalism as the prophets have shown us, the people were united.
There were no political schisms or factions among them, nor were
they divided into groups or parties.

Now when you open the New Testament to the book of Matthew,
you discover an entirely different atmosphere -- almost a different
world. Rome is now the dominant power of the earth. The Roman
legions have spread throughout the length and breadth of the civilized
world. The center of power has shifted from the East to the West,
to Rome. Palestine is still a puppet state -- the Jews never did
regain their own sovereignty -- but now there is a king on the
throne. But this king is the descendant of Esau instead of Jacob,
and his name is Herod the Great. Furthermore, the high priests
who now sit in the seat of religious authority in the nation are
no longer from the line of Aaron. They cannot trace their descendancy
back, rather, they are hired priests to whom the office is sold
as political patronage.

The temple is still the center of Jewish worship, although
the building has been partially destroyed and rebuilt about a
half-dozen times since the close of the Old Testament. But now
the synagogues that have sprung up in every Jewish city seem to
be the center of Jewish life even more than the temple.

At this time the people of Israel were split into three major
parties. Two of them, the Pharisees and Sadducees, were much more
prominent than the third. The smaller group, the Essenes, could
hardly be designated as a party. Not long ago, however, they came
into great prominence in our time and took on new significance
because they had stowed away some documents in caves overlooking
the Dead Sea -- documents which were brought to light again by
the accidental discovery of an Arab shepherd boy and are known
as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Now, what happened in these four hundred so-called "silent"
years after the last of the inspired prophets spoke and the first
of the New Testament writers began to write? You remember there
is a word in Paul's letter to the Galatians that says, "When
the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,
born under the law." (Gal. 4:4) In other words, the time
of our Lord's birth was God's appointed hour, the moment for which
God had been long preparing. Some of the exciting preparations
took place during that time of "silence," however, and
you will understand your New Testament much better if you understand
something of the historic events during the time between the Testaments.

After Malachi had ceased his prophesying and the canon of the
Old Testament closed -- that is, the number of the books in the
Old Testament was fulfilled and the inspired prophets ceased to
speak -- God allowed a period of time for the teachings of the
Old Testament to penetrate throughout the world. During this time,
he rearranged the scenes of history, much as a stage crew will
rearrange the stage sets after the curtain has fallen, and when
the curtain rises again there is an entirely new setting.

In about 435 B.C., when the prophet Malachi ceased his writing,
the center of world power began to shift from the East to the
West. Up to this time, Babylon had been the major world power,
but this was soon succeeded by the Medio-Persian empire, as you
remember from ancient history. This shift had been predicted by
the prophet Daniel, who said that there would rise up a bear who
was higher on one side than the other, signifying the division
between Media and Persia, with the Persians the predominant ones
(Dan. 7:5).

At the height of the Persian power there arose in the country
of Macedonia (which we now know as Greece), north of the Black
Sea, a man by the name of Philip of Macedon, who became a leader
in his own country. He united the islands of Greece and became
their ruler. His son was destined to become one of the great world
leaders of all time, Alexander the Great. In 330 B.C. a tremendous
battle between the Persians and the Greeks entirely altered the
course of history. In that battle, Alexander, as a young man only
twenty years old, led the armies of Greece in victory over the
Persians and completely demolished the power of Persia. The center
of world power then shifted farther west into Greece, and the
Grecian empire was born.

A year after that historic battle, Alexander the Great led
his armies down into the Syrian world toward Egypt. On the way,
he planned to lay siege to the city of Jerusalem. As the victorious
armies of the Greeks approached the city, word was brought to
the Jews in Jerusalem that the armies were on their way. The high
priest at that time, who was a godly old man by the name of Jaddua
(who, by the way, is mentioned in the Bible in the book of Nehemiah)
took the sacred writings of Daniel the prophet and, accompanied
by a host of other priests dressed in white garments, went forth
and met Alexander some distance outside the city.

All this is from the report of Josephus, the Jewish historian,
who tells us that Alexander left his army and hurried to meet
this body of priests. When he met them, he told the high priest
that he had had a vision the night before in which God had shown
him an old man, robed in a white garment, who would show him something
of great significance to himself, according to the account, the
high priest then opened the prophecies of Daniel and read them
to Alexander.

In the prophecies Alexander was able to see the predictions
that he would become that notable goat with the horn in his forehead,
who would come from the West and smash the power of Medio-Persia
and conquer the world. He was so overwhelmed by the accuracy of
this prophecy and, of course, by the fact that it spoke about
him, that he promised that he would save Jerusalem from siege,
and sent the high priest back with honors. How true that account
is, is very difficult at this distance in time to say; that, at
any event, is the story.

Alexander died in 323 B.C. when he was only about thirty-three
years old. He had drunk himself to death in the prime of his life,
grieved because he had no more worlds to conquer. After his death,
his empire was torn with dissension, because he had left no heir.
His son had been murdered earlier, so there was no one to inherit
the empire of Alexander.

After some time, however, the four generals that had led Alexander's
armies divided his empire between them. Two of them are particularly
noteworthy to us. One was Ptolemy, who gained Egypt and the northern
African countries; the other was Seleucus, who gained Syria, to
the north of Palestine. During this time Palestine was annexed
by Egypt, and suffered greatly at the hands of Ptolemy. In fact,
for the next one hundred years, Palestine was caught in the meat-grinder
of the unending conflicts between Syria on the north and Egypt
on the south.

Now if you have read the prophecies of Daniel, you will recall
that Daniel was able, by inspiration, to give a very accurate
and detailed account of the highlights of these years of conflict
between the king of the North (Syria) and the king of the South
(Egypt). The eleventh chapter of Daniel gives us a most amazingly
accurate account of that which has long since been fulfilled.
If you want to see just how accurate the prophecy is, I suggest
you compare that chapter of Daniel with the historical record
of what actually occurred during that time. H. A. Ironside's little
book, The 400 Silent Years, gathers that up in some detail.

During this time Grecian influence was becoming strong in Palestine.
A party arose among the Jews called the Hellenists, who were very
eager to bring Grecian culture and thought into the nation and
to liberalize some of the Jewish laws. This forced a split into
two major parties. There were those who were strong Hebrew nationalist,
who wanted to preserve everything according to the Mosaic order.
They resisted all the foreign influences that were coming in to
disrupt the old Jewish ways. This party became known as the Pharisees,
which means "to separate." They were the separationists
who insisted on preserving traditions. They grew stronger and
stronger, becoming more legalistic and rigid in their requirements,
until they became the target for some of the most scorching words
our Lord ever spoke. They had become religious hypocrites, keeping
the outward form of the law, but completely violating its spirit.

On the other hand, the Hellenists -- the Greek lovers -- became
more and more influential in the politics of the land. They formed
the party that was known in New Testament days as the Sadducees,
the liberals. They turned away from the strict interpretation
of the law and became the rationalists of their day, ceasing to
believe in the supernatural in any way. We are told in the New
Testament that they came again and again to the Lord with questions
about the supernatural, like "What will happen to a woman
who has been married to seven different men? In the resurrection,
whose wife will she be?" (Matt. 22:23-33) They did not believe
in a resurrection, but in these questions they were trying to
put Jesus on the spot.

Now there was also a young rebel Jewish priest who married
a Samaritan, went down to Samaria, and in rebellion against the
Jewish laws, built a temple on Mount Gerizim that became a rival
of the temple in Jerusalem. This caused intense, fanatical rivalry
between the Jews and the Samaritans, and this rivalry is also
reflected in the New Testament.

Also during this time, in Egypt, under the reign of one of
the Ptolemies, the Hebrew scriptures were translated for the first
time into another language, in about 284 B.C. A group of 70 scholars
was called together by the Egyptian king to make a translation
of the Hebrew scriptures. Book by book they translated the Old
Testament into Greek. When they had finished, it was given the
name of the Septuagint, which means 70, because of the number
of translators. This became the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible.
From it many of the quotations in the New Testament are derived.
That is why New Testament quotations of Old Testament verses are
sometimes in different words -- because they come from the Greek
translation. The Septuagint is still in existence today, and is
widely used in various parts of the world. It is still a very
important document.

A little later on, about 203 B.C., a king named Antiochus the
Great came into power in Syria, to the north of Palestine. He
captured Jerusalem from the Egyptians and began the reign of Syrian
power over Palestine. He had two sons, one of whom succeeded him
and reigned only a few years. When he died, his brother took the
throne. This man, named Antiochus Epiphanes, became one of the
most vicious and violent persecutors of the Jews ever known. In
fact, he is often called the Antichrist of the Old Testament,
since he fulfills some of the predictions of Daniel concerning
the coming of one who would be "a contemptible person"
and "a vile king." His name (which he modestly bestowed
upon himself) means "Antiochus the Illustrious." Nevertheless,
some of his own courtiers evidently agreed more with the prophecies
of Daniel, and they changed two letters in his title. from Epiphanes
to Epipames, which means "the mad man."

His first act was to depose the high priest in Jerusalem. thus
ending the long line of succession, beginning with Aaron and his
sons through the many centuries of Jewish life. Onias the Third
was the last of the hereditary line of priests. Antiochus Epiphanes
sold the priesthood to Jason, who was not of the priestly line.
Jason, in turn, was tricked by his younger brother Menelaus, who
purchased the priesthood and then sold the golden vessels of the
temple in order to make up the tribute money. Epiphanes overthrew
the God-authorized line of priests. Then, and under his reign,
the city of Jerusalem and all the religious rites of the Jews
began to deteriorate as they came fully under the power of the
Syrian king.

In 171 B.C. Antiochus invaded Egypt and once again Palestine
was caught in the nutcracker of rivalry. Palestine is the most
fought-over country in the world, and Jerusalem is the most captured
city in all history. It has been pillaged, ravished, burned and
destroyed more than 27 times in its history.

While Antiochus was in Egypt, it was reported that he had been
killed in battle, and Jerusalem rejoiced. The people organized
a revolt and overthrew Menelaus, the pseudo-priest. When report
reached Antiochus (who was very much alive in Egypt) that Jerusalem
was delighted at the report of his death, he organized his armies
and swept like a fury back across the land, falling upon Jerusalem
with terrible vengeance.

He overturned the city, regained his power, and guided by the
treacherous Menelaus, intruded into the very Holy of Holies in
the temple itself. Some 40,000 people were slain in three days
of fighting during this terrible time. When he forced his way
into the Holy of Holies, he destroyed the scrolls of the law and,
to the absolute horror of the Jews, took a sow and offered it
upon the sacred altar. Then with a broth made from the flesh of
this unclean animal, he sprinkled everything in the temple, thus
completely defiling and violating the sanctuary. It is impossible
for us to grasp how horrifying this was to the Jews. They were
simply appalled that anything like this could ever happen to their
sacred temple.

It was that act of defiling the temple which is referred to
by the Lord Jesus as the "desolating sacrilege" which
Daniel had predicted (Matt. 24:15), and which also became a sign
of the coming desolation of the temple when Antichrist himself
will enter the temple, call himself God, and thus defile the temple
in that time. As we know from the New Testament, that still lies
in the future.

Daniel the prophet had said the sanctuary would be polluted
for 2300 days. (Dan. 8:14) In exact accordance with that prophecy,
it was exactly 2300 days -- six and a half years -- before the
temple was cleansed. It was cleansed under the leadership of a
man now famous in Jewish history, Judas Maccabaeus. He was one
of the priestly line who, with his father and four brothers, rose
up in revolt against the Syrian king. They captured the attention
of the Israelites, summoned them to follow them into battle, and
in a series of pitched battles in which they were always an overwhelming
minority, overthrew the power of the Syrian kings, captured Jerusalem,
and cleansed the temple. The day they cleansed the temple was
named the Day of Dedication, and it occurred on the 25th day of
December. On that date Jews still celebrate the Feast of Dedication
each year.

The Maccabees, who were of the Hasmonean (or, Asmonean) family,
began a line of high priests known as the Hasmonean Dynasty. Their
sons, for about the next three or four generations, ruled as priests
in Jerusalem, all the time having to defend themselves against
the constant assaults of the Syrian army who tried to recapture
the city and the temple. During the days of the Maccabees there
was a temporary overthrow of foreign domination, which is why
the Jews look back to this time and regard it with such tremendous
veneration.

During this time, one of the Hasmonean priests made a league
with the rising power in the West, Rome. He signed a treaty with
the Senate of Rome, providing for help in the event of Syrian
attack. Though the treaty was made in all earnestness and sincerity,
it was this pact which introduced Rome into the picture and history
of Israel.

As the battles between the two opposing forces waged hotter
and hotter, Rome was watchful. Finally, the Governor of Idumea,
a man named Antipater and a descendant of Esau, made a pact with
two other neighboring kings and attacked Jerusalem to try to overthrow
the authority of the Hasmonean high priest. This battle raged
so fiercely that finally Pompey, the Roman general, who happened
to have an army in Damascus at the time, was besought by both
parties to come and intervene. One side had a little more money
than the other, and persuaded by that logical argument, Pompey
came down from Damascus, entered the city of Jerusalem -- again
with terrible slaughter -- overthrew the city and captured it
for Rome. That was in 63 B.C. From that time on, Palestine was
under the authority and power of Rome.

Now Pompey and the Roman Senate appointed Antipater as the
Procurator of Judea, and he in turn made his two sons kings of
Galilee and Judea. The son who became king of Judea is known to
us a Herod the Great. ("Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from
the East came to Jerusalem saying, 'Where is he who has been born
king of the Jews?'" (Matt. 2:1, 2)

Meanwhile, the pagan empires around had been deteriorating
and disintegrating. Their religions had fallen upon evil days.
The people were sick of the polytheism and emptiness of their
pagan faiths. The Jews had gone through times of pressure and
had failed in their efforts to re-establish themselves, and had
given up all hope. There was a growing air of expectancy that
the only hope they had left was the coming at last of the promised
Messiah. In the East, the oriental empires had come to the place
where the wisdom and knowledge of the past had disintegrated and
they too were looking for something. When the moment came when
the star arose over Bethlehem, the wise men of the East who were
looking for an answer to their problems saw it immediately and
came out to seek the One it pointed to. Thus, "when the time
had fully come, God sent forth his Son."

It is amazing how God utilizes history to work out his purposes.
Though we are living in the days that might be termed "the
silence of God," when for almost 2,000 years there has been
no inspired voice from God, we must look back -- even as they
did during those 400 silent years -- upon the inspired record
and realize that God has already said all that needs to be said,
through the Old and New Testaments. God's purposes have not ended,
for sure. He is working them out as fully now as he did in those
days. Just as the world had come to a place of hopelessness then,
and the One who would fulfill all their hopes came into their
midst, so the world again is facing a time when despair is spreading
widely across the earth. Hopelessness is rampant everywhere and
in this time God is moving to bring to fulfillment all the prophetic
words concerning the coming of his Son again into the world to
establish his kingdom. How long? How close? Who knows? But what
God has done in history, he will do again as we approach the end
of "the silence of God."

Prayer: Our Father, we are constantly encouraged as
we see the fact that our faith is grounded upon historic things;
that it touches history on every side. It is integrally related
to life. We pray that our own faith may grow strong and be powerful
as we see the despair around us, the shaking of foundations, the
changing of that which has long been taken to be permanent, the
overthrowing of empires and the rising of others. Lord, we are
thankful that we may look to you and realize that you are the
One who does not change. The One whose word is eternal. As the
Lord Jesus himself said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall never pass away." We pray in Christ's name,
Amen.